On Breyer, Will He Stay Or Will He Go? | Progressive Dems Call For Retirement In The Wake Of McConnell Comments This Week
June 16, 2021
NOT GOING NOWHERE
|“Nothing Breyer has said publicly suggests the 27-year veteran is ready to leave the work of the court just yet,” writes Joan Biskupic with CNN. She argues that given JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER seems to be in good health, and he has a special interest in some of the cases scheduled for next term, we shouldn’t think he’s looking for the exit. “Right now, Breyer appears to be tuning out the will-he-or-won’t-he commentary, working to finish his opinions for the 2020-21 term and sending no signals that he is ready to pack up his book-lined chambers. (He declines public questions on the retirement issue and is holding his thoughts, one way or another, close.)”
GAMBLING MAN
|Ruth Marcus writes in The Washington Post, “I’ve urged Supreme Court justices to stick around — in the case of ANTHONY M. KENNEDY, I did so twice — but never to retire. Until now.” She wants JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER to learn the lesson of JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG failing to retire with a Democrat in the White House, and to take SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL at his word when he said this week that it’s “highly unlikely” that a Republican Senate would confirm a Biden nominee in 2024. Breyer said in a speech this spring that if the public sees judges as politicians its confidence in the courts will diminish, as will the court’s power itself. Marcus notes, “Breyer’s concern is clearly heartfelt. The question he faces is, what is the best way to protect the court’s power? Is it to leave now, and have a successor confirmed in what has become the normal course of confirmation business — with a nearly party-line vote? Or is it to take his chances and risk leaving a vacancy to the wiles of McConnell, who has already demonstrated he will stop at nothing to prevent a Democratic president from naming a justice?”
SO IT GOES
|Jennifer Haberkorn with the Los Angeles Times reports on progressive Democrats becoming more and more vocal about JUSTICE BREYER stepping down — especially after MITCH MCCONNELL’S comments this week. “Once viewed as inappropriate, public calls to urge Supreme Court justices to step down have increased in recent years as the court has become more politicized.”
POD DU JOUR
|The latest episode of Dissed, the podcast hosted by Elizabeth Slattery and Anastasia Boden, features a discussion on the infamous Dred Scott case. The pod features input from Jeffrey Rosen, Mark Graber, Earl Maltz, and Tim Huebner.
OTHER NEWS
Bathroom Battle Begun By Trans Teen Is Back At Supreme Court, Years After He Finished High School
USA Today“Gavin Grimm, the transgender student at the center of a years-long legal struggle over school bathrooms, is now in his 20s. He graduated from the Virginia high school that blocked him from using the boys’ bathroom four years ago. While Grimm has moved on from the school – and a casual observer could be forgiven for thinking his dispute was resolved – his case is back at the Supreme Court, along with the underlying question of whether public schools may ban transgender students from using a restroom that reflects their gender identity.”